


Headache

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Baby Harry, Child Louis, Child Niall, Daddy Liam, Dr. Paul, Hospital, Illness, Injury, M/M, Niall-centric, Papa Zayn, headache, i don't really know what else to say, ziam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-02 20:57:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5263388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis gave him a quick hug before running off with Harry, Liam shaking his head with fondness at the interaction between the pair.  Liam could've never even dreamed that his oldest and youngest children could get on so well, have such a strong bond. It was too bad Niall didn't get on with his brothers like that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Zayn Payne-Malik came through the front down, shoulders shrugged after a long day at work. Today had been the hardest day he had ever had at his job, one of his kids had thrown a fit and decided to would be a could idea the try and set fire to the bathroom and another had literally had an epileptic fit which scared the life out if him. He was looking forward to just sitting down and correcting the test papers on his laptop and having a nice glass of Chardonnay. 

He made his way into the kitchen, but what he say got his blood boiling. On the wooden floor was his laptop, now smashed into hundreds of tiny shards of glass. He cautiously lifted it up, careful to not get any of the glass in his hand. He inspected the damage and quickly found that it was obviously unfixable. He quickly tried to think what could have happened, and his mind only thought of one possibility. 

"Louis!" Zayn yelled. He heard a patter of footsteps come running down the stairs and soon his eldest son was standing in front of him. "Did you drop my laptop?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady and not to sound to angry.

Louis looked up in shock for a moment, not expecting his father to know what he had done. He quickly put on an innocent smile, not wanting his papa to notice the slip up. "Nope!" He said, twirling his light blue shirt on his fingers precariously."But I think Niall said something earlier about wanting to play on your laptop." Then the young boy shrugged his shoulders and walked away nonchalantly, stifling a snigger as he did so.

Zayn was furious. Niall was always a very truthful and apologetic child, never one for hiding anything from his parents, and now here he was! Not saying anything to Zayn about breaking his laptop. Actually, now that he thought about it, Zayn realised he hadn't seen his middle son since he came home. He knew that Liam was at a doctors appointment with Harry since four, and he since Zayn usually was home by then, Liam probably assumed he was stuck in traffic and that the nine year old and five year old could cope on their own for fifteen minutes. He was obviously wrong though, as he came home to a broken laptop and a missing (and probably guilty) Niall.

"Niall!" He called out, waiting for a reply. When he didn't get one he shouted a little louder and hollered "Get down here." 

Little Niall trudged down the stairs, his tiny stomping feet barely making a sound on the wooden steps, which was a good thing as his small head was pounding furiously, so much so that Niall found a few black dots making their way into his eye's point of view. 

"Do you want to explain to me why this happened?" Zayn said when Niall slowly got in front of him, holding up the demolished laptop. Niall let out a gasp and his eyes were wide with worry. He knew that that laptop was Papa's work laptop, his prized possession that nobody, not even the eldest Louis was allowed to touch. He shook his head quickly, which proved to be a bad idea as he felt himself getting shakier the longer the conversation went on.

"Ni," Zayn paused and sighed, he really didn't like giving out to the kids but it was necessary in some situations, and this was definitely one of them. "I know you broke the laptop. If you just tell me what happened I'm sure we can discuss this fairly and decide what your punishment is."

"But Papa, I didn't do it!" Niall whined, his baby blue eyes pleading with his father. His bottom lip quivered and he looked like he was about to break into tears, which broke his fathers heart, but he knew what had to be done. 

"I'm sorry Niall but you've given me no choice. First of all you broke my laptop and worst of all you lied about it! I'm sorry but you can go to your room for the rest of the night." Zayn knew this was harsh, but he also knew that Liam had fed the children dinner before he left, so he knew Niall wouldn't starve.

Niall looked at his father in shock. Papa never punished anyone like this. Ever. The worst he had ever gotten was to sit on the naughty step of ten minutes, and even at that Zayn cracked after seven, apologising profusely for making his son go through all that. A few tears slipped out of Niall's eyes as Zayn marched him back up to his bedroom and slamming the door loudly behind him, telling Niall to think about what he had down. Niall slumped down at the end of his bed frame, his head feeling like it was about to spilt open with the noise. He knew right there and then that this was going to be the worst night of his life and he quickly burst into tears.

Meanwhile, Louis raced back downstairs. He had heard the front door close and Harry's babblings, so he knew that his Dad must be home. He ran downstairs and picked up the curly-haired two year old, spinning him around until Dad told him to stop. Louis gave him a quick hug before running off with Harry, Liam shaking his head with fondness at the interaction between the pair.  Liam could've never even dreamed that his oldest and youngest children could get on so well, have such a strong bond. It was too bad Niall didn't get on with his brothers like that. Liam always felt that Louis had only been four when Niall was born, so he was at that age where jealousy hits at its finest, and unfortunately it never really went away. Of course Harry being Harry (otherwise known as Louis' sidekick/partner in crime) followed Louis and stuck his tongue out at Niall repeatedly and agreed with Louis that Niall couldn't play certain games with them. Liam knew it hurt his middle child, but he figured it was just a phase that Lou would eventually grow out of and that it was nothing to worry about.

Liam strolled into the kitchen to see his husband sitting down at the table, he head in his hands, sheets of paper and manuals scattered all over the desk. Zayn groaned slightly when he made his way behind him and started   
rubbing his tense shoulders. 

"What's wrong babe?" Liam asked, pecking Zayn on his stubbly cheek. He saw the worry lines between Zee's eyebrows and knew it could be nothing good.

"Niall broke my laptop earlier and now I'm having to find this stupid warranty, which by the way, I'm nearly full sure is out of date. Also, now I have to grade all these original copies of the papers and I can barely decipher half of these kids handwriting! And I had to send Niall up to his room for the night because he blatantly lied about the laptop." Zayn panted as he finished his rant, all the the energy he was running on slowly sucking out of him. 

"Babe, how about you just relax and we'll all watch a movie or something yea? I'll talk to Niall and he can come down and watch whatever with us. How does that sound?"

"That sounds perfect Li. What could I do without you?" Zayn replied, kissing Liam on the nose before grabbing Harry and Louis and lifting the giggling children over onto the couch. He smiled as he watched Liam walk up the stairs, hoping his amazing husband could talk to Niall some more. He hated punishing any of the kids, and Niall was just so small and innocent. It was when Louis and Harry were fighting over 'Bambi' and 'Toy Story' that Zayn heard his husband let out an anguished cry. 

He quickly sprinted upstairs, telling his two other children to stay put. He burst through Niall's blue door to see a sight that would make your body curl up into a ball of weeping sobs. 

There, lying on the floor, was his small five year old blonde son, a trickle of blood coming out of his mouth, no sign of life coming from his small Nialler.


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Lee?" Zayn gasped slightly, kneeling beside his husband and his middle child. He gently wiped the trickle of blood off of his sons chin, stroking his cheek softly. "What happened Liam?"

"Lee?" Zayn gasped slightly, kneeling beside his husband and his middle child. He gently wiped the trickle of blood off of his sons chin, stroking his cheek softly. "What happened Liam?" 

"I-I don't know Zee! I swear, I walked in and just say him lying there!" Zayn shushed his husband quietly, drapping one arm around Liam's shoulders. 

"He's so pale Zayn!" Liam said standing up and pacing quickly. "S-should we call an ambulance?" 

"I think we should, Lee." Zayn responded trying to keep calm for Liam's sake. "How about I go downstairs, phone an ambulance and check on the kids while you stay here with Ni, yea?"

Liam nodded, so Zayn placed a kiss onto Niall's forehead before kissing Liam. He then made his way down the stairs quickly, and ran into the sitting room to find his two children cowering in fear on the couch, Harry trying to pull away and go to his parents upstairs, but nine-year old Louis held him back. Even though he had tears running down his own face, Lou was showing more maturity then Zayn had ever seen from his eldest before. The normally cheeky troublemaker had a sullen look on his face, glancing at the stairs every couple of seconds. 

Zayn contemplated his options for a moment, before deciding to phone the ambulance first, knowing that his children would ask numerous question and limit his time speaking with the paramedics. 

While Zayn quietly gave the details to the operator, Liam was upstairs with Niall, smoothing his light blonde hair out and whispering words of reassurance to him. 

"C'mon baby....it's okay, just open your eyes, c'mon." Liam was tearing up again as he spoke, and he quickly brushed his tears away harshly. He needed to be strong for his children. 

"Mmm, Daddy...."

Liam looked up hopefully to see Niall looking at him hazily through half open eyes. "Shh....it's okay baby."

"Hurts Daddy..." It broke Liam's heart as he heard Niall speak hoarsely, discomfort and pain evident in his voice and as he scrunched up his eyebrows and moaned, Liam felt more tears escape. 

"I know honey.."

"Sleepy 'addy" Niall's voice was slurring now, and his was slowly starting to drift into unconsciousness once again. 

"No, no Niall stay awake sweetheart." It was to no avail though, as Niall was gone once asleep once again. 

"Zayn...." Liam called out, feeling Niall's forehead once again for any sign of fever, but was surprised when he didn't feel one. 

"Dada?" Liam turned around to see a small Harry standing behind him, and a panting Louis running up beside him. 

"Harry!" Louis scolded. "Papa told us to stay in the sitting room...." He trailed off at the sight in front of him. His Dad was sitting beside an unconscious Niall on the floor, who looked like he was barely breathing. "I-Is Ni okay Dad?".

"He will be, don't worry babe." With that, Liam kissed his eldest on the cheek and lifted up his youngest and bounced him softly on his hip. "Now, will you run down and see how Papa is getting along, Lou?"

Louis nodded eagerly and bounded down the stairs, bumping into his father at the bottom. 

"Oh Lou.." Zayn said sadly as he say the bank of tears in Louis' grey-blue eyes. Louis propelled himself into his father and started openly sobbing. 

"What's wrong with Ni, Papa?" Louis said, pleading with Zayn. "Is he gonna die?" Zayn bit his tongue and knelt down on one knee.

"Lou, I promise you. Niall will be fine. And do I ever break promises?"

"No...." Louis agreed reluctantly. 

"So there you have it! Nialler will be fine Lou, and the doctors said they would be here in ten minutes so he'll be as right as rain by the time their finished with him, huh?" Louis nodded and wiped his eyes, while his father led him up the stairs. 

"When will the paramedics be here Zee?" Liam whispered to his husband when Zayn knelt beside him. 

"They said ten minutes max, so any time soon really." Liam sighed in relief and went back to bouncing his youngest, except now he was doing it on his lap. 

It was an agonising five minutes, but when Zayn heard the doorbell he knew the calvary had finally arrived. He ran downstairs to let them in, telling the main one the details of the situation. When they got up there, the paramedics fully sprang into action. A woman in her late thirties kindly asked Liam and the two other boys to back up while she kneeled down and took Niall's vitals. 

"What age did you say he was again?"

"Five." Zayn answered, voice laced with trepidation. God, his son, the sunshine of the whole clan, was only five. 

"Did he wake up at any time?" The woman asked, while shining a light into Niall's right eye. 

"No, he-"

"Yes, actually." Liam started, cutting Zayn off. "He woke up for about three minutes, but he was really out of it and just kept mumbling about how it hurt."

"Okay...We're going to get him in the ambulance now, okay?" The kind woman said, helping the others lift the stretcher into the trolley. "Would one Dad like to come with us?"

"Lee..." Zayn swallowed harshly to eliminate the lump in his throat. "I really think you should go with him. We'll come after you in the car once we have everything ready, like an overnight bag, just in case, okay?" Liam nodded and hugged his husband and two other children before running down the stairs and hopping into the back of the ambulance with Niall. 

Zayn looked on, an expression of fear written all over his face. It wasn't until he heard his youngest let out a sob that he was snapped out of his daze.

Zayn grabbed Harry and hoisted him up on my hip, as the young curly boy grizzled slightly. Harry looked terrified, and was mumbling things into Zayn's shoulder but he wasn't the one Zayn was really worried about. Louis was in bits, tear tracks running down his face and nose running slightly. Zayn brought his eldest into his side, and, with Harry on his hip, he was able to slowly gather everything there was a probability of the needing before making his way out to the car, buckling Harry in and making sure Louis still wasn't openly crying. Then he quickly hopped into the drivers seat, before turning around and saying;

"Let's go visit Niall huh?"


	3. Tribus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn quickly passed his youngest over to his husband, and sitting down in the seat beside him, he whispered "How's Niall?" into Liam's ear. Liam just shook his head and motioned to the two kids who were clinging onto him protectively, careful to not let their father escape their eyes once again.

Liam was on one knee beside Niall, holding onto the small boys hand tightly as the snow white fingers curled around his own weakly. Paramedics bustled around him quickly, worry etched into each of their faces as they quickly attached Niall to so many gadgets and gizmos that Liam couldn't count them all. Despite this, Liam still couldn't tear his eyes away from his snowflakes face, which was living up to Niall's nickname right now. An oxygen mask covered his usually plump pink lips while his dark eyelashes lay on frozen cheeks. 

Suddenly, those dark eyelashes started to flutter, and a muffled groan escaped from underneath the nebuliser. Piercing blue orbs shot open then suddenly closed again as soon as they saw light. They opened once again, this time squinting cautiously out from underneath their lids.

"Ni?" Liam said eagerly, "Are you awake baby? Nialler, snowflake?"

The woman paramedic quickly made her way over to stand beside Niall's stretcher and rubbed his hand softly with her thumb. "Niall? Niall can you hear your daddy and me pet?" Unfortunately, Niall just closed his eyes, once again falling into a state of unconsciousness. Liam heard the woman whisper to the driver to step on it when she thought he wasn't listening, but he did, oh he did.

It took several more minutes of low voices whispering and Niall being injected and attached the wires before they finally reached the paediatric hospital. The paramedics quickly rushed Niall away with some doctors in the ED while Liam was directed to a waiting room by the woman with the curly red hair, who finally introduced herself as Jessica. She wished Niall and Liam well before leaving Liam alone. 

The waiting room had a large Winnie the Pooh mural painted onto the wall, with Pooh with his hand in a honey jar, Tigger chasing Roo and Piglet while a usually depressed Eeyore was particularly optimistic. Liam assumed it was there to cheer up the young children that would be sitting in the room, and he knew he would appreciate it when Harry was ogling at that later instead of crying, but right now the picture just agitated him. How could anything be happy when his middle child Niall was lying in a room a few feet away, potentially fighting for his life.

It was ten minutes later when Zayn and the two boys came barreling into the waiting room. Harry was on Zayn's hip, eyes searching around for one particular blonde headed boy, but stopping as they landed on his Daddy. He made grabby hands for Liam as Louis quickly propelled himself into his fathers side, sobs catching in his throat stiffly. 

Zayn quickly passed his youngest over to his husband, and sitting down in the seat beside him, he whispered "How's Niall?" into Liam's ear. Liam just shook his head and motioned to the two kids who were clinging onto him protectively, careful to not let their father escape their eyes once again. 

"Daddy?" Liam looked down to his oldest who was curled into his side, surprised to hear the name he had not heard come from the boy since Louis was eight.

"What's up Lou?" Liam asked, inwardly wincing at the crack in his voice.

"Is it my fault?" Louis whispered softly.

"What?"

"Is it my fault that Ni is sick?"

"What do you mean Lou?" Liam asked incredulously. "How on earth could it be your fault?"

"'Cause I lied." Louis mumbled softly, twiddling his thumbs.

"What was that Lou?" Zayn asked, piping into the conversation. 

"I lied Daddy. Niall didn't break Papa's laptop." Zayn's face turned stormy as Louis said this, but Lou didn't look up, he just continued on and said "I-I broke it. I was practicing my volleys for footie, and well, the ball kinda went off course." 

Zayn inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, trying to stop himself from erupting right then and there. It wasn't so much the fact that Louis had lied (even though Zayn was pretty pissed about that too), no it was mostly about the fact that Niall might not be in the situation he was now if Zayn hadn't punished the young child. 

"Louis..." Zayn started, trying to keep his voice even. "That was a very bad thing to do, and it should never have happened in the first place. I'm going to have to punish you later, I might have to ground you or even stop you going to football if that's what it takes, okay?" Louis nodded eagerly, eyes focused slowly on the floor as the guilt filled up in his chest.

"Saying that though, I think you may have been punished enough just by seeing what happened today. But you have to promise you'll never do that again, right Lou?" Zayn asked, to which the boy nodded once again, tears welling up in his grey blue eyes. Zayn hugged his son tightly before exchanging a knowing glance with Liam.

It was about twenty minutes after the discussion when a doctor finally approached the small family.

"Are you the family of a Niall James Horan?" The tall dark-haired man asked, consulting his clipboard.

"Yes." Liam replied hoarsely, swallowing painfully. 

"How about I take one of you men into my office and the other one can stay with the kiddies?" 

"N-No." Zayn stuttered, exchanging glances with Liam again. "I think we want to be told as a family."

"Okay then." The doctor sighed, eyeing Louis not so discreetly. "Have you men ever heard of what is know as a haemorrhage?"

"That's bleeding right?" Zayn said.

"Correct. We fear that young Niall here has what is known as an intercranial brain haemorrhage. It's basically any bleeding that occurs between the brain and the skull that damages brain tissue and may lead to brain swelling." 

Liam stared at the doctor, tears sliding down his cheeks as he clung onto Harry, who just sat their, wiping the tears away from his father. Louis was looking between his fathers and the doctor in confusion, knowing that it must be bad to get that kind of reaction out of them. Zayn shook his head, mumbling "No," every couple of seconds. 

"I don't understand," Liam finally said. "Niall was fine, he can't have a bleed." 

"Has he shown any discomfort at all lately? Any headaches or dizziness or?"

"He um, he had a bad headache about a week ago, and on Wednesday he came into our bedroom saying that his neck hurt, but we assumed he was just sleeping on it wrong." Zayn confessed. 

"Yes, they're both quite normal symptoms in a haemorrhage situation."

"What could've caused it though?" Liam asked. "I've heard of haemorrhage's, but only after a car accident or something."

"We think that Niall's was caused by an aneurysm, which a balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel in a brain." The doctor said, wiping his glasses clean. "What we need to do to help Niall is do a surgery to remove the excess blood and use a catheter to use some glue to repair the blood vessel."

"W-what are the risks?" Liam asked after a short minute of silence in the otherwise empty room.

"Like most surgeries, there are they normal risks of picking up an infection, but also, there might be some issues with Niall's brain function like constant seizures, learning difficulties or even paralysis. The biggest thing about a brain surgery is that there is a higher possibility of the patient dying on the table, but we will do our best to prevent this from happening."

Zayn stared at the doctor in disbelief, before finally asking "And what if he doesn't have the surgery?"

"I'm sorry Sirs, but if Niall does not have this surgery, he will die."


End file.
